Wednesday, May 11, 2011

My fellow Canadians, take note: Telus has dropped the gauntlet on the other wireless carriers in Canada by offering a new no-cost data sharing plan between your phone and your tablet. Let me repeat that: no cost to share the data plan. This is a big deal, because traditionally the carriers have added a fee to allow this functionality. There's a catch though: this Telus plan only works with Android and RIM tablets because it apparently relies upon tethering instead of a direct network connection.

This was, previously, a very expensive proposition - iPhoneinCanada.ca has a great post on this topic from two months ago: as of February 2011, Rogers was charging customers an extra $30 per month if they wanted to share their 6 GB data plan with another device. This is a network-level data share, so it applies to iPad 3G's for instance and isn't exactly the same as tethered sharing, but the concept is the same: two devices sharing a pool of data. $30 per month extra on top of the $30 or so that the customer is already paying for the 6 GB plan. Ouch. That's some mighty expensive data sharing!

I hope that Telus' move here places pressure on Rogers and Bell to re-position their sharing plans and pricing. And, I might note, it makes me long for the day when Windows Phone 7 allows for either Bluetooth tethering sharing or, better yet, full-fledged WiFi hotspot functionality. When I'm out with my WiFi iPad 2, I can only stare at my Windows Phone 7 with disdain and think "You know, I could do this sort of thing with Windows Mobile 6.5...".

UPDATE: It looks like the parallels I was trying to draw were inaccurate; Rogers has allowed no-charge tethering on all data plans over 1 GB, and tethering is a different scenario than a directly connected tablet with a SIM card. Apologies for the confusion!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

This is one of more easier to understand videos when it comes to the issue of Usage Based Billing - UBB - and what it really means. I'm putting this on every site in the network because if you're in Canada, you need to understand what's happening (everyone else in the world might find it interesting). Now that one of the ISPs here in Canada has admitted that the pricing of their plans is not linked to actual use, the logic behind UBB start to become even more baffling. We know the motivation is money, but as a "small c capitalist" I believe there's room for plenty of profit while still being fair to your customers. The model of usage-based billing we use in society for buying clothes and food should be applied in the same way for a data connection. Read more...

Monday, October 11, 2010

Although it's not listed on the official Microsoft device list yet, HTC is doing an updated Touch Pro 2 style device, dubbed the HTC 7 Pro. It will be exclusive to Sprint, coming out in the first half of 2011. Specs are as follows:

Processor: 1 GHz

Operating System: Windows® Phone OS 7

Memory: ROM: 512 MB RAM: 576 MB Internal storage: 16 GB

Dimensions: Size 117.5 X 59 X 15.5 mm (4.62 X 2.32 X 0.61 inches)

Weight: 183.5 grams (6.47 ounces) with battery

Display: 3.6 inch touch screen with 480 X 800 resolution

Network: 1xRTT/EVD0rA Upload speed of up to 1.8 Mbps and download speed of up to 3.1 Mbps

"With a 4.0" SUPER AMOLED display and thin, light design the Samsung Omnia 7 is great for gaming with Xbox LIVE, listening to Zune music and watching videos."

OK Samsung, you have me baffled. The specs on the Omnia 7 are virtually identical to the Samsung Focus...yet the exterior design of the casing would seem to target a different sort of market. Any insights here? Maybe one is a North American market device, and one is for Europe/Asia?

4.0", 480x800 Super AMOLED screen

4.82" x 2.53" x 0.43" 119g

512MB RAM/1GB Flash/8GB internal storage

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8250 1 GHz

Battery life - Talk time: 3 hrs/Standby: 250 hrs

5MP camera/720p HD video

UPDATE: It looks like the Samsung Focus is coming to North America via AT&T, while the Samsung Omnia 7 is coming to Europe.

If there's a budget phone in the new HTC line up, I think this is it; this pretty much adheres to the Windows Phone 7 minimum specs down the line, though it has a 3.8 inch screen versus a 3.5 inch screen. The HTC 7 Trophy will offered by Vodaphone in Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland.

"The HTC 7 Surround is designed to entertain with a fold out kickstand for hands-free viewing, and a slide out the speaker lets you share music and videos with friends in virtual surround sound."

HTC continues their curiously similar Windows Phone 7 product line up with the HTC 7 Surround. The 16 GB of storage is nice, as is the kickstand, but only a 3.6" 3.8" touch screen? The slide out Yamaha speaker + SRS + Dolby Surround Sound make it obviously a multimedia-focused device...but then why pair it with the small-ish iPhone-sized screen? The HTC 7 Surround will be available exclusive in the USA from AT&T, and in Canada from Telus.

Friday, September 17, 2010

"Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, won't sell handsets with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone 7 operating system when it debuts this year, a blow to the software maker's efforts to reach a broad market."

Friday, December 11, 2009

"Canadians will soon have a fourth wireless company offering services to them after the federal government has allowed Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to start operating immediately. On Friday morning, Industry Minister Tony Clement said the cabinet has determined that the wireless company meets Canadian ownership requirements under the Industry Canada Act. Globalive was previously unable to set up shop after the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission turned down its prior attempts, citing the fact that it was owned by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding."

This is good news for Canadians - it's hard to say whether this is a play that will include data, or if it's just voice, but I'd have to think that any new player could realize the vital importance of wireless data. I was impressed with Rogers Wireless last year when they introduced a 6 GB data plan for $30 as part of their roll-out of the iPhone - and in fact became a Rogers client at that point - but earlier this week I looked at their data plans again and was stunned to see that their top-end smartphone data plan is 5 GB of data for $80/month. Even their iPhone plans top out at 2 GB of data and 400 week-day minutes for $80/month.

Hopefully Globalive can bring some increased competition in this market - with Rogers and Fido being the only GSM carriers in Canada, and with Rogers owning Fido, there's really only one option for GSM in Canada. And before anyone tells me that Telus is now GSM, they're HSPA-only, so your regular run-of-the-mill GSM phone won't work. And, bizarrely, my HTC HD2 wouldn't recognize their network with a Telus SIM in it even though their IMEI checker says it should. Of course, it's not reassuring that the Globalive Web site won't load for me right now. Hopefully it's not a sign of their competence as a company...

Monday, July 20, 2009

That HTC Touch Pro2 coming from Canadian carrier Telus that I posted about last week? It seems the press information I received forgot to mention one important little fact: that this phone was going to be among the first Touch Pro2's to feature a 3.5mm headphone jack, something that HTC had pledged to make more common in upcoming phones. That was quick!

Monday, July 13, 2009

"Available later this month, the HTC Touch Pro2 smartphone will help TELUS clients stay in touch easily with a large sliding 3.6" touchscreen and full QWERTY keypad. The enhanced Windows Mobile 6.1 professional platform will enable users to sync their email, contacts and calendar with Microsoft ActiveSync, plus access applications such as YouTube on TELUS' 3G network and almost anywhere they travel around the world with TELUS international roaming."

The above quote is from a Telus press release, which seems to be impossible to find online, but here are some other quotes from it:

3.2 MP camera/video with auto focus to take and share pictures with family and friends

Easy access to You Tube, Digital Photo Frame and weather

TELUS Navigator, TELUS Visual Voice Mail, TELUS mobile TV and more

The interesting thing here is that this is a CDMA phone with EVDO Rev A but also quad-band GSM - so when you're in North America you can rock the better speed and range of CDMA, and when you travel you'll roam onto the GSM network. That's a big deal for anyone that has a CDMA phone and is used to leaving it behind when they travel internationally. No word on exact pricing.